Elliott Noye new Tasmanian SB20 champion
Porco Rosso at speed downwind during the Crown Series Bellerive Regatta. Photo Steve Catchpool
Banjo’s Shoreline Crown Series Bellerive Regatta has become a major annual event on the calendar of Hobart’s fleet of SB20 sports boat sailors, this year again using the regatta on-the-water expertise to conduct their Tasmanian State championship.
Elliott Noye is the new Tasmanian champion, outsailing a fleet of sailors he describes as of “world class” over the two day’s of close racing for the 17 boat fleet.
Noye helmed Porco Rosso to a commanding victory with a scorecard of 2-2-4-1-1-(9)-4 to finish ten points clear of defending champion Pinch (Frazer Read) who was two points ahead of class veteran Nick Rogers in Karabos.
Porco Rosso’s crew of Noye, owner Paul McCartney (main) and Edward Snowball (bow), took a firm grip on the championship from day one, starting with two seconds and then two wins as the River Derwent seabreeze freshened to 18 knots.
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New Tasmanian SB20 champions, left to right, Elliott Noye (helm), Paul McCartney, owner (main) and Edward Snowball (bow). Photo Jane Austin
Pinch also had two wins, race one and race seven, with race eight being abandoned halfway through on Sunday afternoon, while Smigger (Ian Smith) won race two, Karabos race three and Australian champion Aeolus (Brett Cooper) won the final race.
The all-female crew,sailing Cook Your Own Dinner with Felicity Allison on the helm, finished 13th overall including a brilliant third in the final race. Another excellent result came from Hutchins student William Cooper and his crew who finished ninth in Murray Jones -THSSA.
Interviewed by Jane Austin at the end of the regatta, Noye, who last year finished second in the European SB20 championships in Ireland, described the level of SB20 sailing in Hobart “as definitely world class” adding “every Thursday night we have guys on the Derwent who have been in the top ten in the world.”
Emphasising this, Ellott added: “We are all trying to push our way up so that one of us can eventually win a worlds one day”, going on to announce that the Porco Rosso team would be heading to Europe again this year.
“We will do two trips to Europe. We have a boat in the UK, so we will do the British nationals in mid-June, and the week after that we will put the boat on a ferry and drive down to Cascais (Portugal) where the SB20 worlds are next year.
“After contesting the Portuguese nationals, we will head back to France at the end of September for the French grand slam, followed by the worlds in Hyeres.”
Charge of the SB20s on the Derwent at the weekend. Photo Steve Catchpool.
This coming Saturday, Elliott Noye has another challenge, match racing in International Dragons against SB20 opponent and doyen of the Dragon class, Nick Rogers.
They are sailing to decide who will represent the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania in a challenge match for the historic Sayonara Cup against the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron.
Words: Peter Campbell & Jane Austin
Photos: Ed Broadby, Steve Catchpool, Peter Campbell
18 February 2019
Nothing to keep Mumm about for Jeff Cordell
Bellerive Yacht Club member Jeff Cordell has won a somewhat rare collection of trophies in the weekend’s Crown Series Bellerive Regatta with his Mumm 36 yacht B&G Advantage.
Cordell skippered B&G Advantage to overall first place in both the AMS and PHS categories of Racing Group Division 1, becoming inaugural Tasmanian AMS (Australian Measurement System) champion in that division.
To cap a winning weekend, he retained the ‘Mumm 36 World Championship’, a light-hearted but traditional part of the Banjo’s Shoreline Crown Series Regatta for the past decade and more.
B&G Advantage won Racing Group Division 1 AMS and PHS from another Mumm 36, Matthew Keal’s Heat Wave while War Games (Wayne Banks-Smith) recovered from a race two OCS to win the IRC category overall.
It was a fitting win for Cordell as he has been driving force in building up AMS as a club-orientated handicap system and in convincing Bellerive Yacht Club to include the inaugural Tasmanian AMS championship as part of the Crown Series Bellerive Regatta.
Racing Group Division 2 saw just two points between Nathan Mills and Jay Nibb’s Young 88, Young One, John Dryden’s Mount Gay 30, Prion, and Stewart Geeves’ Young 88 Footloose in PHS results.
Prion won AMS and the PHS division titles, while Footloose took the IRC honours.
Prion thus became the AMS champion for Racing Division 2, while Cromarty Magellen (Richard Grant) is AMS champion for Cruising (spinnaker) Division 1.
Wings Three (Peter Haros) won Cruising (spinnaker) Division1 under PHS[PC1].
Cruising (spinnaker) Division 2 went to Mischief (Duncan Macgill) and Division 3 to SHrinkEDGE (Andrew Jones) on a countback from fellow Port Dalrymple Yacht Club boat Hotdog (Ross Edmunds). The Goo (David Paine) won the Cruising (non-spinnaker) division.
Elliott Noye, one of Tasmania’s most talented and versatile young yachtsmen, is the new State champion helmsman in the SB20 sports boats.
Steering Porco Rosso with owner Paul McCartney and Edward Snowball as crew, Noye finished the championship with a scorecard of 2-2-4-1-1-(9)-4, a 10-point winning margin from defending State champion Pinch (Frazer Read). Karabos (Nick Rogers) placed third.
A comeback to sailing his beloved International Dragons proved a winner for Justin Barr, helming Zane
Ridgeway’s Magic, recently brought to Hobart from Metung in Victoria.
Magic won by just one point from Wicked (Andre Blakney) with another two points to Ridgeway, helmed by Brendan Crisp, with the teenager winning race five.
In the off-the-beach classes, overall winners of the classes were: Oscar O’Donoghue and Rupert Hamilton (29ers), Hugo Allison and James Gough (International Cadets), Sarah Sargent (Laser 4.7), Ed Broadby (Optimists), Sean Keady (Paper Tiger), Lara Racape and Stella Gasperini (Flying 11), Lisa Blackwood (International 2.4m), Rohan Langford (Moth Foiler) and Oliver Whitton (Sabot).
The Bellerive Regatta Association Trophy went to Amy Potter who skippered a 29er with Anna Reid as crew, consistently placing third in the small fleet. Announcing the award, race officer Nick Hutton said the trophy recognised “good sportsmanship, great humour and a serious competitor but always having fun. The spirit of the regatta.”
The Crippo Trophy for the most impressive newcomer sailing in the regatta was awarded to John Toohey.
Words: Peter Campbell
Photos: Peter Campbell, Ed Glover
18 February 2019
OCS costs War Games Regatta lead
Three yachts in Racing Group, Division 1 of the Crown Series Bellerive Regatta, including overall series leader War Games, have been declared OCS and disqualified from race two.
War Games has dropped from first place overall in IRC, AMS and PHS as the fleet contests day two of the regatta on Hobart’s River Derwent, while X&W and Whistler have also been penalised.
Bellerive Yacht Club announced revised results of race two and overall standings this morning following a check of finishing positions and times relayed from the finish boat on Saturday.
War Games, Wayne Banks-Smith’s Farr 40 and the regatta defending champion, had provisionally placed third in race two and overall after four races was top of the leaderboard in IRC, AMS and PHS handicap categories.
Revised totals, counting the OCS, has dropped War Games to fifth overall in PHS and AMS and third in IRC. Whistler (Jo Breen and David Aplin) has dropped from second to fifth in IRC standings, from second in AMS to fourth and in PHS from sixth to seventh.
X&Y (Toby Richardson) mid-fleet corrected time placings have altered only one or two positions in PHS and IRC.
The Racing Group Division 1 now has new overall leaders in each category with Filepro (Tim Gadsby) heading PHS, B&G Advantage at the top of AMS and Crusader (Scott Sharp) and B&G Advantage on equal points in IRC scoring.
An historic annual trophy event within the Banjo’s Shoreline Crown Series Bellerive Regatta is the ‘Mumm 36 World Championship’ decided on PHS results over the regatta.
B&G Advantage is the defending champion but this year is facing strong challengers from Matthew Keal’s Heatwave, Gavin Adamson’s Madness and the syndicate-owned Joint Custody.
Racing is well under way in all divisions and classes today, the big fleet enjoying a light northerly breeze on a warm summer’s day.
Words and Photos: Peter Campbell
1300/17 February 2019
Regatta MOB - Man, woman and girl
A strong sea breeze kicking up choppy waters on the Derwent caused some havoc in yesterday’s Crown Series Bellerive Regatta, causing three MOB (man overboard) situations.
One was a young male crew from the SB20 Export Roo, the other a young woman crew from the classic 8-metre, Juanita, and third a teenage girl from another SB20, Obi Kabobi.
All were quickly recovered, testimony to the strict safety rules that apply to yacht racing in Tasmania. All were wearing buoyancy vests and none suffered any ill effects - other than a dunking in the Derwent.
A protest over the correct course and involving all boats in Racing Division 2 also delayed the announcement of final results for the day, before being dismissed.
The gust sea breeze caught some sail trimmers unaware and there were a number of spectacular broaches among the keelboats and capsizes in the dinghies.
Champion helmsman Sam Tiedemann went overboard briefly from the SB20 Export Roo, skippered by Michael Cooper.
Export Roo was in third place, approaching the finish line when Sam slipped over the side of the sports boat, grabbing a line as he went, and hauling himself back on board.
A female crew member of the 8-metre yacht Juanita, skippered by Jock Young, also fell overboard and was recovered by a Bellerive Yacht Club patrol boat.
Teenager Jorji Cooper also fell overboard from the SB20, Obi Kenobi, skippered by her mother, wellknown yachtswoman Jacinta Cooper.
“She caught her foot in the spinnaker halyard, lost her balance and went oversboard,” Jacinta Cooper said last night. “But we got her back safely and we had lots of fun.”
Apart from those dramas, the sea breeze provided a great day of racing in this 15th annual Crown Series Bellerive Regatta with the promise of more close competition today.
The Crown Series is the Tasmanian championship for the SB20 class and after five races yesterday, Porco Rosso (Elliot Noye) heads the leaderboard with places of 2-2-4-1-1 for 10 points.
Karabos (Nick Rogers) is second overall on 25 points, with defending State champion Pinch (Frazer Read) in third place.
In Racing Division 1, War Games (Wayne Banks-Smith) is leading all three handicap categories, IRC, AMS and PHS after four races.
War Games, with Darren ‘Twirler’ Jones aboard as tactician, had had three wins and a second in the IRC category, a first, two second and a fourth place in AMS, and a 3-3-2-2 PHS scorecard.
Racing Division 2 results were delayed by a protest, with Paul Einoder’s Beneteau Oceanis 34 heading the PHS and AMS pointscores and Stewart Geeves’ Young 88 leading Division 2 IRC with three wins and second so far.
The Cruising Group (spinnakers) have notched up three races, with Cromaarty Magellan (Richard Grant) heading the leader board in both Division 1 PHS and AMS.
Hydrotherapy (Jim Thorpe) lead Cruising (spinnakers) Division 2 while in Division 3 the Elliot 4.7, ShrinkEdge, from Port Dalrymple Yacht Club at Beauty Point, skippered by Andrew Jones, holds a narrow lead from fellow PDYC boat Hotdog (Ross Edmunds).
In Cruising (non-spinnaker) The Goo (David Paine) today won two races to lead Sundance (Don Bailey) by just one point after three races.
In a revival for the classic one-design class, the International Dragons have a fleet of six boats in the Crown Series, with Justin Barr making a return to the class in Magic to lead the series after four races.
Each of the four races saw a different winner today: Magic (Justin Barr), Thorvalda (Stephen Henley) and Wicked (Andrew Blakney) with two wins spoiled by an OCS and a DSQ.
In the main off-the-beach classes, the top placed sailors are Oscar O’Donoghue and Rupert Hamilton (29ers), Ed Broadby (Optimists), Archie Yarrow (Laser 4.7s), Sean Keady (Paper Tigers) while in the Cadets there have been three winners, Hugo Allison, Will Zeeman and Grace Hooper.
Words: Peter Campbell
Photos: Ed Glover, Steve Catchpool
17 February 2019
Optimists: From Regatta to World Championships
Three young Optimist dinghy sailors from Sandy Bay Sailing Club chosen to represent Australia overseas are among a list of champions contesting this weekend’s Crown Series Bellerive Regatta on the River Derwent.
Eddie Reid (13), who was a close runner-up to a Sydney sailor in the 2019 Optimist Australian championship in Hobart in January, has been included in the Australian senior for team for the world championships in Antigua in July.
Ed Broadby and Adelaide O’Donoghue, both aged 12, are in the senior team to contest the Asian and Oceanic championships at Al Mussanatt Sports City, Oman, in September.
In the Optimist nationals Broadby finished 17th and O’Donoghue 26th and second female in the huge open championship fleet of 138 Optimists.
Broadby and O’Donoghue will contest the Optimist class at the Banjo’s Shoreline Crown Series Bellerive Regatta today and tomorrow while Reid will move into a two-handed class.
He is helming a high-performance 29er skiff with his crew Archer Ibbott, who was a runner-up in the 2019 International Cadet Nationals.
Cadet champions, Hugo Allison and James Gough, also from Sandy Bay, head a strong line-up of the class as they continue their preparation to represent Australia at the Cadet Worlds in Poland later this year.
A dozen Optimists are contesting the Crown Series Bellerive Regatta, along with fleets of 29ers, International Cadets, Lasers, Sabots, Paper Tigers and other off-the-beach classes.
Optimists: Crown Series to World Championships
The Crown Series Bellerive Regatta began last evening with a twilight race for 60 racing and cruising keelboats and today they are being joined by off-the-beach dinghies and catamarans, International Dragons and SB20 sports boats which will be racing for their State championship.
Both the Dragons and SB20 fleets include a number of young sailors with former Flying 11 national champion Brendan Crisp steering the Dragon, Ridgeway.
In the SB20s, prominent yachtswoman Jacinta Cooper is taking her daughters Jorja (15) and Indy (12), along with Seb Gadsby (15) racing in her new sportsboat, Obi Kenobi.
Their opposition will include Jacinta’s husband, Brett, the current Australian champion in the SB20s.
Words and photos: Peter Campbell, Beau Outteridge
16 February 2019
B&G Advantage sets the pace in regatta
Prominent Bellerive Yacht Club member Jeff Cordell last night set the pace in Racing Division 1 of the Banjo’s Shoreline Crown Series Bellerive Regatta with his modified Mumm 36, B&G Advantage.
B&G Advantage won the AMS category, finished second in PHS and third in IRC.
The one-hour windward/leeward twilight race saw the Racing and Cruising (spinnakers) Group fleet of 36 keelboats sail a competitive race in a brisk 15 knot south-easterly breeze on the Derwent.
Joining the Mumm 36 as Racing Division 1 winners were Matthew Keal’s Heat Wave, also a Mumm 36, taking out PHS, and Wayne Banks-Smith’s Farr 40 War Games, winning IRC.
In remarkably close racing, B&G Advantage beat Heat Wave across the finish line by 20 seconds, but Heat Wave reversed the result on PHS corrected time – by just one second.
The AMS win gives B&G Advantage an early break in the inaugural Tasmanian AMS championship being held as part of the Crown Series. A total of 23 boats in the Racing and Cruising Groups have AMS rating certificates.
War Games was fastest boat around the course in the Racing Group and won IRC comfortably from Whistler (Jo Breen & David Aplin).
In Racing Division 2, the Young 88, Young One (Nathan Mills and Jay Nibbs) won the AMS category and Off-Piste (Paul Einoder) took out PHS.
Ocean racer Cromarty Magellan (Richard Grant) scored a double in Cruising (Spinnakers) Division 1, winning AMS and PHS.
Crescendo (Vaughan Lynch) had an outright win in Cruising (Spinnakers) Division 2, as did Shrinkedge (Andrew Jones) in Division 3.
The Racing and Cruising (Spinnakers) Groups will be joined today by Cruising (non-spinnakers) keelboats and the one-design keelboats, SB20s and Dragons and the big fleet of off-the-beach dinghies, skiffs and catamarans.
Racing is scheduled to start at 11:00am for all divisions and classes with a moderate to fresh northerly breeze forecast for the morning.
Words: Peter Campbell
Photos: Ed Glover
15 February 2019
Heatwave enjoys hot day on Derwent
Bellerive Yacht Club member Matthew Keal and his crew obviously enjoyed Hobart’s hot weather on Saturday, scoring a double handicap win with the aptly named Heatwave in the Combined Club’s Summer Pennant race.
Heatwave, a Mumm 36 design, sailed well above her rating to take out the Division 1 IRC category by almost seven-and-a-half minutes, also winning AMS and finishing second in PHS on corrected time.
In a winning day for BYC boats and Mumm 36 designs, Jeff Cordell’s B&G Advantage won the AMS category of Division 1, also placing second in PHS.
Another BYC boat, Chris Sheehan’s newly acquired Melges 32 Assagai, made an impressing Pennant racing debut, placing third in both Division 1 PHS and Division1 AMS.
Derwent Sailing Squadron sailing manager Peter Watson commented after the river race: “The light south-easterly sea breeze had a tenuous grip on the River Derwent today.”
Only minutes before the warning signal for Division 1 start did race officer Gilbert Leitch ‘bite the bullet’ and send the fleet into the light sou’-easter.
Division 1 was sent into Ralph’s Bay, now free of the Iron Monarch oil rig. Divisions 2, 3 and 4 went to a mark off the Garrow Light.
With the breeze lightening and backing to the north-east, Divisions 2, 3 and 4 were shortened from three laps o three, while Division 1 completed their course, although there were some large windless pockets in the middle of the course.
Oskana, Mike Pritchard’s Cookson 50, took line honours in Division from War Games, Wayne Banks-Smith’s Farr 40 and the Lewis/Cripps owned Guilty Pleasures, also a Farr 40.
In Division 1 PHS, Heatwave won from B&XG Advantage and Assagai, and in IRC took first place from War Games and Guilty Pleasures. B&G Advantage won AMS from Heatwave and Assagai.
The veteran Natelle Two (Glen Roper) continued its winning ways taking first place in Division 2 PHS from Ian Stewart’s Southern Swordfish and Justin Barr’s Rumbeat.
Rumbeat won Division 2 IRC from Wings Three (Peter Haros) and Natelle Two, while under AMS scoring first place went to Southern Swordfish and Illusion (David Brett)
In Division 3, Derwent Sailing Squadron Commodore Steve Chau’s Young Lion won both IRC and AMS categories, with another Young 88, Footloose (Stewart Geeves) winning on PHS scoring.
Young Lion took out Division 3 IRC from Footloose and Groove (Wil Justo) and AMS from Footloose and Young One (Nathan Mills and John Nibbs).
With a dozen boats lining up for a PHS result in Division 2, Footloose won from Lock on Wood (Ron Akhurst) and Groove.
Division 4 continues to attract a good fleet with Astrolabe (Peer Bosworth) winning on PHS corrected time from Hornet (Neville Georgeson) and Serenity (Graham Hall) which had fastest time.
In six races, there have now been four different winners, Camlet Way having won three races until Saturday's race six when it placed last on corrected time.
Words: Peter Campbell
Photos: Peter Watson
4 February 2019
Whistler in tune for Crown Series Bellerive Regatta
David Aplin’s much-travelled and successful MBD36, Whistler, is in top racing tune going into next month’s Banjo’s Shoreline Crown Series Bellerive Regatta.
Whistler won the final race of the IRC Division 3 of the Australian Yachting Championships on Melbourne’s Port Phillip earlier this week, finishing equal second on points to fellow Tasmanian boat, Shaun Tiedemann’s Sydney 36cr, Philosopher.
Whistler is among the 25 early entries for the Crown Series Bellerive Regatta to be sailed on the River Derwent on 15,16 and 17 February.
The yacht will be sailed back to Hobart next week after competing in the Festival of Sails regatta at Geelong over the Australia Day long weekend.
Whistler also won the long passage race of the Australian Yachting Championships but had to be content with third overall, second place going to the Victorian yacht Chutzpah on a countback.
Co-incidently, one of Whistler’s several female crew, Lucy Rees, has been invited to be a guest at the launch of the Banjo’s Shoreline Crown Series Bellerive Regatta at BYC next Thursday morning.
The invitation was extended following the overall win by Whistler in the recent Melbourne to Hobart Westcoaster in which Lucy, 22, was also a crew member.
Lucy, a sailmaker with Doyle Sails in Hobart, played a key role in each of this week’s wins, specifically in Whistler’s long race victory on Port Phillip.
As the wind freshened in the fourth short windward/leeward race on day one, Whistler blew out her masthead symmetrical spinnaker, obviously a vital sail for next day’s 25-miler around the bay.
After the fourth race, Whistler headed across to the Doyles Melbourne sail loft at Williamstown where Lucy worked until 1.30 next morning, firstly repairing sails for Adelaide yacht Secret Men’s Business and then sewing Whistler’s kite back together.
“I think I got to bed about 2am and we had to be on the starting line at 10.30am….they let me have a nap on the downwind leg,” Lucy said after Whistler notched up her second win of the championship.
Shaun Tiedemann’s Philosopher will now go for a unique hat-trick in the 2020 Australian Yachting championships to be sailed on Hobart’s River Derwent and Storm Bay on 3-5 January next year, immediately following the 75th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
In January 2018, Philosopher became the first Tasmanian boat to win an IRC title at the Australian Yachting Championships and has now won back-to-back titles.
In an outstanding summer of sailing for the Derwent Sailing Squadron club manager, Philosopher has also won IRC overall honours in the Maria Island and Launceston to Hobart races this season.
The young crew of Philosopher (not counting the owner/skipper) has an average of 23 and a wealth of sailing successes in off-the-beach classes, high performance skiffs and sports boats before joining the racing yacht.
The winning crew, in addition to the owner/skipper, comprised his son Sam as helmsman, along with Elliott Noye, Alec Bailey, Oli Burnell, Chris Jones, Tom Stearnes and Will Sargent.
“They are all ex-Cadet sailors, including my son Sam, and they’ve come back to keelboat sailing on Philosopher, which is important for the sport. I get to sail with my son and he gets to sail with his mates,” a proud Shaun Tiedemann said this evening.
IRC Division 1 of the Australian Yachting Championships went to Australian Sailing President Matt Allen, sailing his TP52 Ichi Ban after a close-fought series against runner-up Hooligan (Marcus Blackmore).
Most yachts in the Australian Yachting Championships, including Philosopher and Whistler, will contest the huge Festival of Sails regatta at Royal Geelong Yacht Club over the Australia Day weekend.
Philosopher will contest the full-on IRC Racing division while Whistler sail in the Cruising division with her AMS rating, starting with an Australia Day race from Williamstown to Geelong.
Words: Peter Campbell, Lisa Ratcliff
Photos: Caitlin Baxter
25 January 2019
Elderly Natelle Two’s PHS, IRC double
Launched back in 1975, Glen Roper’s elderly yacht Natelle Two today showed she still has a spring in her bow wave, winning both the PHS and the IRC categories of Division 2 in the Combined Clubs Summer Pennant race.
Designed by the US naval architect, the late Doug Petersen, to the old IOR Two Tonner rule, Natelle Two has retained the red with white stripes topsides that makes her a standout in Hobart yachting fleets.
She obviously still has a good turn of boatspeed in a fresh to strong breeze, notably beating to windward.
Roper has owned Natelle Two since 1990 and has raced her consistently in harbour and long ocean races. His daughter Laura, then aged 22, skippered the yacht in the 2011 Sydney Hobart.
With a fresh to strong westerly (it was mainly 15-20 knots but gusted to 24 knots mid-afternoon and swung to the NNW), Derwent Sailing Squadron set a course that took Divisions 1, 2 and 3 on a 29 nautical mile course around Betsey Island, with Division 4 to Little Betsey Island, three miles shorter.
In a race that had everything, Derwent Sailing Squadron Commodore Steve Chau summed it up as….”like a Launceston to Hobart in five hours!! Reaching down the Derwent, square running to Betsey, upwind from Betsey to Iron Pot and hard on the wind from the Garrow Light to the finish off Battery Point.”
Bad luck story of the day was Doctor Who which had been leading fleet back up the river but fell into a light wind hole just south of the Garrow. This allowed The Fork in the Road to close in and take line honours and for Intrigue to run down the ‘Doctor’s’ time.
However, her third place still gives Doctor Who a commanding points lead in the prestigious IRC category of Division 1, well clear of Intrigue and Philosopher, which received average points for her absence racing in Melbourne.
Natelle Two was one of three yachts to score a handicap double, another veteran boat in Don Calvert’s 34-year-old Castro 40 Intrigue winning Division 1, IRC and AMS while DSS Commodore Steve Chau steered his more modern Young 88 Young Lion to first place in Division 3, AMS and IRC.
In Division 2, Natelle Two finished third in fleet and on PHS corrected time won from Pirate’s Pride (Peter Masterton) which took fastest time, third place going to Ian Snape’s Frontline. Under IRC scoring the veteran yacht won from Wings Three (Peter Haros) and Illusion (David Brett).
Wings Three won Division 2 AMS from Southern Swordfish (Ian Stewart) and Illusion.
Another veteran yacht, Don Calvert’s 1985-vintage Castro 40 Intrigue, won Division 1 under IRC and AMS. Zephyr (Ian Johnston) won under PHS scoring and also placed second to Intrigue in IRC and third in AMS for a good all-round result. Jeff Cordell’s B&G Advantage finished second in both AMS and PHS, but is not entered in IRC.
It was a good day’s racing for DSS Commodore Steve Chau in his Young 88 Young Lion, winning Division 3 IRC from Footloose (Stewart Geeves) and Moonshadow (Anthony Ellis). Under AMS, Young Lion again won from Footloose with Young One (Nathan Mills and John Nibbs) third, all three Young 88s.
Another veteran yacht, Charles Peacock’s Serica, won Division 3 PHS from Miss Conduct (Brian Fleming) and Footloose.
In Division 4, the fresher breeze certainly suited Stephen Mannering’s Camlet Way which won outright, second place on PHS handicaps going to Astrolabe (Peter Bosworth), third to Wayatih (Allan Morgan).
Fleet numbers were down for this first post-Christmas Summer Pennant Race, with many yachties still away on holidays, and Shaun Tiedemann’s Philosopher away for the Australian Yachting Championships and Geelong’s Festival of Sail on Port Phillip.
Chris Sheehan had originally entered his recently acquired and as yet un-named Melges 32, but withdraw late on Friday. Only 33 of the 52 boats entered for the Combined Clubs Summer Pennant actually raced today.
However, the fleet is expected to be back to full strength for race six of the Summer Pennant on Saturday, 2 February, with the Bruny Island Race and the Royal Hobart Regatta the following weekend, 9 and 11 February respectively.
Then it’s the Crown Series Bellerive Regatta over the weekend of 15-17 February which includes the inaugural Tasmanian AMS Championships and the SB20 Tasmanian State Championship.
Words: Peter Campbell/Peter Watson
Photos: Peter Watson
19 January 2019
Intrigue’s winning tribute to Elson Kiddle
The late Elson Kiddle, skilled yachtsman and good friend to so many in the Hobart yachting fraternity, would have been delighted by the performance yesterday of Intrigue, the yacht on which he sailed most of his life.
Intrigue, skippered by longtime friend Don Calvert, won the Division 1 AMS category of the Combined Clubs Summer Pennant in a day of challenging sailing on the Derwent and Storm Bay.
Summer Pennant race four was dedicated to the memory of Kiddle, who died alone in rugged bushland in Hobart’s Lenah Valley last weekend.
The entire fleet yesterday flew black ribbons from their backstays, with veteran yachtsman Don Calvert’s win with Intrigue a special tribute to Kiddle, who had sailed aboard Intrigue for 33 years, including at the Admiral’s Cup in England in 1985.
In other Division 1 results Doctor Who (Rod Jackman) won her third out of four races in Division 1 under IRC scoring while the PHS category went to the Mumm 36 Heatwave (Matthew Keal).
In the AMS category Intrigue won from Shaun Tiedemann’s Philosopher and Heatwave, while Doctor Who took out IRC again from Philosopher and Intrigue.
In Division PHS, Heatwave won from Doctor Who and Peter Cretan’s Tilt.
Mike Pritchard’s Cookson 50 Oskana took line honours on a day of miserable weather – a south to south-wester breeze of 20 knots gusting to 30 knots down river and in Storm Bay, a temperature of 14 degrees (felt like 8 degrees) and cold, misty rain. Only 31 of the 52 Pennant entries turned up for the start of the long race.
In a post-race decision, the Hanse 400e Illusion has been automatically disqualified from Division 2 of yesterday’s Summer Pennant race for sailing through a Sandy Bay Sailing Club start line for tiny Optimist junior sailing dinghies.
Illusion, owned and skippered by David Brett, was leading the Division 2 fleet as she sailed under spinnaker up the Derwent towards the finish off Castray Esplanade.
Combined Clubs race officer Biddy Badanach said Sandy Bay Sailing Club had been forced to abandon the start for the Optimists, sailed one-up by juniors mostly aged under 12.
“The automatic disqualification of Illusion should serve as a lesson to all yachtsmen that they must respect the start and finish lines of other clubs using the river,” Badenach added.
Today, Ilusion’s owner/skipper David Brett wrote on Facebook that Illusion was very sorry for the incident at Optimist’s start line. “We were under extreme difficulty with jibe gone wrong and judged safest route was to maintain course through the line. Apologies to all involved,” Brett wrote.
In Division 2, Natelle Two (Glen Roper) won both PHS and IRC, and Wings Three (Peter Haros) took out AMS.
In Division 2IRC, Natelle Two, a past Sydney Hobart ocean racing yacht won from Wings Three (Peter Haros) and Rumbeat (Ross Mannering) while Natelle Two won PHS from Wings Three and Southern Swordfish (Ian Stewart).
Division 3 produced a double handicap win for Stewart Geeves’ Footloose, the Young 88 taking out IRC and PHS, somewhat making up for the frustrations of the Maria Island Race.
Under IRC, Footloose took top honours from Moonshadow (Anthony Ellis) and Groove (Will Justo) while in PHS the Young 88 won from Moonshadow and Serica (Charles Peacock).
Division 3 AMS winner was Young One (Nathan Mills and Jay Nibbs) with Footloose second and Moonshadow third.
In Division 4, Camlet Way (Stephen Mannering) scored another impressive victory[PC1], winning from Astralabe (Peter Bosworth) and Innovator (Smith/Aberley).
Words: Peter Campbell
Photos: Peter Watson, Peter Campbell
25 November 2018